Wilson Rawls Books

Where The Red Fern Grows is an excellent story which transcends age related interest groups defined as adult or children. This story shares timeless moral and value concepts inherent in religous and philosophical traditions. An easy read, this heartfelt story will touch anyone who has compassion for others and can see beyond the self.

This book, like many of my favorites, I first read as a child. It touched me deeply then and I still enjoy reading it now and again as an adult. The author did an amazing job of weaving the characters and story into a very heartwarming lesson of family and gratitude for the people and things in life that make it all worth living. I will purchase this book for my 8 year old son this Christmas and recommend it as a great book to read with your children as a forum for teaching thankfulness and that family is the most precious gift of all.

The setting is mostly in the forest near Billy's house. Some events are billy has a wanting for dogs. He nagged & nagged. Billy got his dogs. He named them little anne and old dan. He wins the coon hunting contest. The conflict is that Old dan dies from a mountian lion fight. Little anne starves herself to death. the resolution is the dogs die.

Where the Red Fern Grows is a beautiful story. The story has excellent descriptions. The Ozarks seem like a beautiful place to live. It just shows how much effort one little boy put in to buy his hunting hounds. The end of the book made me cried. Where the red fern grow is the best book I ever read. I don't think anybody could dislike this book. Wilson Rawls is an excellent author.

I first read Where The Red Fern Grows when I was 13 years old. I had seen the movie on several occasions, but it wasnt untill the sad death of my own Old Dan that I felt that I just had to read the book. Like the Coleman family, mine was very poor living in the dried up south east Texas oil fields. Many was the time that My only companion was my dog Old Dan. Many was the time that the only activities there were for me to do was going exploring through the woods that surrounded our home for miles and miles. I would find it hard to believe that anyone cant find some part of this story to relate to. Before I read Where The Red Fern Grows, I had never read a book in my life. Not only did I discover a wonderful story that I was almost living out myself, but also I discovered a massive love for reading. All I can say is that you are selling yourself short if you dont read this story. I think I'll go pick up my copy and read it again.

I read this book when I was 11, and have loved it for 30 years.I bought it for my 9 year old to read with me at night befor bed.Today we were on the last chapter..with her reading it out loud as I drove her to school..with both of us bawling like babies..I asked her if she wanted to stop, fearing the story was too emotional for her,"...are you crazy!!???.." was all she said through the tears.."..this is now my favorite book!!.. I remembered I too felt the same way 30 years ago. Now Im on here buying it in hardback for her to someday read to my future grandchild, who will love it as much as we did.

I havent read the whole book, but in my literiture book for school there was a chapter or two in it and i fell i love!!!! I asked my mom if i could get the book and she must have been starteled becaus she looked really stuned!!! lol but she said "Yeah sure we can Lauren!" and so I hope u read this book!!! Billy, Little Ann(Hound Dog), and Old Dan(Hound Dog) are awsome life like things!! You would totally love it and i strongly recomend this as a bed time book or just for a good read!!
God Bless you all, Lauren

This book with its literature related selections is an excellent resource for upper elementary teachers. I've incorporated the 6+ Traits of Reading easily with excerpts from the selection.

Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls is a story about a boy living in the Ozark Mountains and his desire to have two hound dogs. This longing was complicated by the fact that his family were too poor to buy the dogs. The story that follows is one of adventure and excitement.

I loved this book because of the friendship between the boy and his dogs. When I was reading it I felt like I was the Billy, the main character. I read it in 3 days and then felt sad that it was all over. All dog lovers should read this book.

Wilson Rawls taught me through this book not to give up when circumstances look impossible.

I read this book when I was 11, and have loved it for 30 years.I bought it for my 9 year old to read with me at night befor bed.Today we were on the last chapter..with her reading it out loud as I drove her to school..with both of us bawling like babies..I asked her if she wanted to stop, fearing the story was too emotional for her,"...are you crazy!!???.." was all she said through the tears.."..this is now my favorite book!!.. I remembered I too felt the same way 30 years ago. Now Im on here buying it in hardback for her to someday read to my future grandchild, who will love it as much as we did.

This scholastic bookfiles reading guide to Where the Red Fern Grows is great for homeschoolers and teachers. They can use the book for a complete unit study based on the book. It includes ideas on how to discuss plot, setting, and themes. The book has questions on each chapter. Also listed are vocabulary words and activities.

I enjoyed using this book as the base in my unit with my 9 year old son while studying the book Where the Red Fern Grows. The book helped us to work though the book and have fun with it. Lots of great ideas are in this BookFiles guide. It reminds me of CliffNotes for young readers.

I would recommed this book for teachers, parents, and teachers. This is a great way to enhance the reading of a great book.

Where the Red Fern grows is an exciting story of a boy named Billy who lives in the Ozark Mountains in Oklahoma with his mom and dad and his younger sisters. Billy has always wanted Dogs so one day he finds an ad where there are pups for sale. Billy really wants some of his own pups but doesn't have much money. The pups are fifty dollars which is a lot of money to come up with. Billy works every day for a long time trying to earn enough money to get the pups. Once Billy earns enough money he gives the money to his grandfather who orders them for him. Billy has to travel all the way to Tahlequah where the pups are to be picked up the pups he has to travel by him self to pick the up. He finally gets the two dogs and decides to name them Old Dan and Little Ann. As the two dogs grow up Billy trains them to be raccoon hunter. The two dogs grow up to be fierce hunters and Billy is able to sell the coonskin for money and gives it to his father. Billy enters his dogs in a Hunting contest and the two dogs show they are good enough to win the contest and the prize is four-hundred dollars. One night when Billy is raccoon hunting the dogs tree a mountain lion. They fight and eventually kill the mountain loin but Dan is very badly injured and he dies. After awhile Ann dies of sadness and Billy is very sad. The dogs have earned enough money for Billy and his family that they are able to move to town. It takes Billy awhile to get over the fact that his dogs are gone until one day he goes to the graves and sees a Red Fern planted by an angel.

We read Where the Red Fern Grows in class when I was in school (7th grade?) and I really loved this book. After reading it again many years later I loved it just as much. I do have a lot of bias involved because my dog is a Redbone Coonhound (possibly the only one in Scandinavia) and before moving over here I spent many a night tracking and treeing Racoons. Besides that I've always been a sucker for a dog story of any kind. The tree hugger in me isn't exactly fond of the part where the kid chops down the biggest tree in the area just to get to a single Racoon but I don't know if any other book that I've read better illustrates the love and deep bond that exists between dogs and humans. I have to warn you if you haven't read it that this book is a real tear jerker but I think dog lovers of all ages would find this a great entertaining read.

I had to read this book in elementary school, but I've been thinking about it lately and wondered if it was still around. Looks like it's not only around, but being used in schools just as regularly as before. Also with 1200+ reviews, I'm not sure it needs any more, including this one.

I will say that even though I haven't read it in twenty years, that it still makes me want to shed a little tear. I can't say that for many other books.

I'm 45 now, but read this book in Elementary school. This is the book that got me hooked on reading. Even after all these years I still think of the story from time to time.

I have finished Where the Red Fern Grows. That was a terrible book. It has nothing redeeming about it. It lost me when the 10-year-old couldn't think of an alternative to chopping down the biggest Sycamore in the river bottom, that you can't always win was lost as an emphasis, that trees are dispensable if you make a promise to a dog, that it is fair to have two dogs trained to chase ONE raccoon, that the fact you have to train them to do it because the raccoon is actually smart enough to not be killed by them also goes lost, and, worst of all, that a majestic mountain lion in its own habitat gets an ax in his back because he is defending himself from bloodhounds and is made out to be a scourge, an EVIL predator, that, lastly, there is no mention made that it is the 10-year-old's fault that the dogs die because he is the jerk who trained them to tree critters to begin with and didn't teach them which ones they ought not challenge. I can find no bad review of this piece of trash anywhere. I am positive I am the only one in the world who thinks this way, else why is it on a reading list for our kids? I will buy my grandson "Lassie Comes Home." That is a story deserving of the status of classic. At least, it is about a fantastic dog. The bloodhound beasties were not even rescue dogs. They were "trained" to wantonly kill raccoons or animals for the pelts: Davie Crockett hats. Goodness. The book made me sick. The popularity of a book is not moral equivalence.

This is the first time I have read "Wilson Rawls" and, although essentially a children's book, I enjoyed his writing very much. It captures the heart and touches some part of our childhood. The plot was quite interesting as well, with boy things versus girl things, having a sick child who finds a world of expression and selflessness and parents with only a hope of getting her treated due to lack of money, then the twist of fate in things turning out all right.

Out of all the people involved in this work, you'd think it would have dawned on at least ONE of them that these are CHIMPANZEES, not monkeys. Monkeys are as different from chimps as dogs are from cats. Did no one attached to this project take a high school science class? And this work is geared toward children, no less! Amazing! No wonder we can't convince the other half of the country to accept Evolution...they don't even know the difference between a chimp and a monkey!

My 8 yr old daughter (a very good reader) loves this book!! She first read Where the Red Fern Grows and loved that. She was inspired to read this one and loves it even more! She may be a good reader, but she is picky. She looks forward to reading this one. She says that Wilson Rawls makes her feel like she is really there.

Summer of the Monkeys

Have you ever thought of trying to catch a $100 monkey for free? Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls is about a boy named Jay Berry Lee who goes to his grandfathers shop for some errands. His grandfather tells him about these circus monkeys in the forest. The theme of this book is that Jay Berry Lee is trying to raise money by catching the monkeys and giving them back to the circus. He tries to raise money for his sister because she twisted her leg at birth.

When Jay Berry goes to his grandfather's store he tells him how the monkeys got to the sycamore trees. And the reason is that this circus train de-railed and the monkeys got loose. He says that about 30 monkeys got loose. One monkey, the smartest of all of them costs $100.

Jay Berry Lee is a very adventurous and smart kid. This book Summer of the Monkeys is a historical fiction novel. I recommend this book to readers who like books taken place in the old times. Readers who like stories with kids and animals should read this fascination novel.

Definitely better than the movie. We read the book as a family and felt the suspense with silence that showed all were involved and listening.